Tottenham 0-1 Everton

David Moyes celebrated his 300th game in charge of Everton with an away win at White Hart Lane. However the win did come at some cost with striker Yakubu being ruled out for the rest of the season with an achilles tendon injury, furthermore Louis Saha sustained a torn hamstring. This poses a dilemma for Moyes as Victor Anichebe is the only current striker for him to choose from. The win moves the Toffees up to 7th, while Spurs sit in 16th with 15 points, level with Sunderland and Newcastle.

There were few chances in the opening few minutes of the match, and Huddlestone shot across the Everton goal to come closest. The game fell into a state of counter-attacking football, but the Toffees were on top. Gomes kept out shots from Fellaini in quick succession, and then to deny Saha with the arguably the best chance of the half; the Frenchman latching on to a perfect cross from Tim Cahill, only to head it straight at the Brazilian goalkeeper.

The second half was delayed due to Pienaar sporting the wrong shirt, however this did not put the South African off. Mikel Arteta took the free kick, a foul on Pienaar by Lennon, quickly and Pienaar’s shot took a lucky deflection off Corluka and wrong footed the Spurs ’keeper, to ripple the back of the net. The South African was then booked for taking off his shirt in celebration in front of the traveling fans.

Pavlyuchenko blazed over from close range shortly after for Spurs, and Pienaar came close again for Everton in a flurry of chances. The Tottenham fans appealed for a penalty for a handball in the wall, from a David Bentley free kick, but it was quickly dismissed by Steve Bennett.

Everton began to sit back for the final part of the match, playing largely on the counter attack. Roman Pavlyuchenko brought out a fine save from Tim Howard, from close-range. In the final minutes, Frazier Campbell, the substitute, almost leveled for Spurs, but his shot was deflected narrowly wide. Everton survived the late onslaught and ended Harry Redknapp’s 100% home record with Tottenham.

Redknapp acknowledged that his team’s downfall was the lack of openings and running off the ball, and Moyes praised Phil Jagielka for another man of the match performance.

Tottenham: Gomes, Corluka, Woodgate, King, Assou-Ekotto (Bale 68), Lennon, Zokora, Huddlestone (Boateng 76), Bentley, Bent (Campbell 62), Pavlyuchenko.

Everton: Howard, Neville, Yobo, Jagielka, Lescott, Arteta, Osman (Baines 88), Cahill, Fellaini, Pienaar, Yakubu (Saha 11), Saha (Anichebe 71).

Goals: Pienaar 51.

Att: 35,742

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Sunderland 1-4 Bolton

Bolton capitalised against a lackluster Sunderland side with a resounding third-straight away victory on Saturday.

The Mackems came out of the blocks the stronger of the two sides with Kenwyne Jones and Djibril Cisse terrorising the Bolton defence and grabbing a good team goal rounded off with a nice finish from Cisse with 11 minutes on the clock

However 7 minutes later Matty Taylor headed a fight back for Bolton with an inch perfect looping header over returning keeper Craig Gordon, towering over Pascal Chimbonda in the process.

3 minutes later Bolton snatched the lead when Andy O’Brien’s free-kick bounced around the Sunderland box to Gary Cahill who slotted the ball through the crowd of defenders into the bottom corner for the defender’s second of the season.

On 31 minutes the Black Cats thought they’d leveled the score after Kenwyne Jones’ header against the bar and the rebound was volleyed in by Djibril Cisse, but the linesman flagged correctly as Jones pushed JLloyd Samuel in the back to head the ball initially.

A minute subsequent to that Johan Elmander rounded Craig Gordon and it all seemed to be wrapped up but the Swede pulled the ball wide and Sunderland were still in the game

The gap was raised to two in the 39th minute after winning the ball from Danny Collins who failed to control a Jussi Jaaskelainen goal kick Johan Elmander made amends for his previous mistake by classily placing the ball through the keeper’s legs.

In the second half after a mundane first 5 minutes Gavin McCann hit a thunderous strike from 30 yards which was spectacularly tipped over by Gordon who was desperately trying to keep his team in contention for some points.

But the game was put beyond any doubt when Elmander took the ball off Dean Whitehead in the Sunderland half before doing a nice one-two with Kevin Nolan and the Swede blasted the ball into the net and Bolton up the table.

From then on the Bolton fans were delighted and were singing, jumping and they threw in a conga aswell for good measure.

In the last 15 minutes Elmander had two decent chances to complete his hat-trick but placed the ball just at the wrong side of the post and failing to control a lazy pass which would’ve resulted in a goal if he managed to get a shot off.

Kevin Nolan denied a late consolation for the Mackems throwing himself in front of the ball with three minutes remaining.

So Roy Keane is left under more pressure but his opposite number Gary Megson has had pressure eased from the Bolton fans who have been so resentful of him this season for sending Bolton temporarily up to 7th in the league

Sunderland: Gordon, Bardsley, Nosworthy, Collins, Chimbonda, Malbranque (Tainio 62), Whitehead, Richardson (Leadbitter 46), Reid (Miller 63), Cisse, Jones.
Subs Not Used: Fulop, Diouf, Murphy, Ferdinand.

Booked: Richardson, Nosworthy, Bardsley, Chimbonda.

Goals: Cisse 11.

Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Steinsson, Cahill, Andrew O’Brien, Samuel, Muamba, Davies, Nolan, McCann, Taylor (Gardner 46), Elmander (Basham 89).
Subs Not Used: Al Habsi, Smolarek, Riga, Shittu, Obadeyi.

Goals: Taylor 18, Cahill 21, Elmander 39, 55.

Att: 35,457

Ref: Chris Foy (Merseyside)

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STOKE CITY 1 – 1 HULL CITY

by Jack Deverson

Ricardo Fuller’s 73^rd minute penalty earned Stoke a 1-1 draw in the fog at home to Hull. After having won their last four home matches, Tony Pulis will probably be somewhat disappointed that his side failed to walk away with all three points, but as the old saying goes, one point is better than none.

In an otherwise uneventful first half, Marlon King tucked the ball nicely into the back of the net on the stroke of half time to put Hull into the lead. The only other goal threats in the first half came from Stoke – as you may have guessed, from Rory Delap’s long throws. From a neutral perspective, I couldn’t fancy being a Stoke fan, though – it seems that the loudest cheers came from the home crowd whenever a throw-in is earned anywhere near the box. The most entertaining moment in the first 30 minutes or so came when Boaz Myhill chose to concede a corner instead of a throw-in when under pressure.

The game livened up after the half-hour mark, though, as Stoke’s direct approach began to cause problems for the Hull defence; Ricardo Fuller prodding just wide from the edge of the six-yard box. Soon after, Hull tried another different method to negate the effect of Delap’s throw-ins (Phil Brown’s side seemed to try anything short of cutting his arms off), Dean Windass warming-up directly where a throw-in was about to be taken. Windass tried this again just before The Tigers took the lead, and achieved the bizarre feat of being booked without ever reaching the field.

But, in the 45th minute, Dean Marney was brought down inside the Stoke half. A free-kick was given, and Sam Ricketts lifted it into the area, Michael Turner headed down, Marney flicked on and Jamaica striker King steadied himself before curling into the top corner.

After half time, Stoke seemed determined, and Delap’s aerial threat increased. Myhill made two more fine saves, and Delap had a chance at the far post, but he couldn’t quite get on the end of Michael Tonge’s low ball in.

One would have to say that it was coming, and Stoke got back on level terms in the 73rd minute after Fuller was brought down by the Hull goalkeeper in the penalty area. The Stoke striker proceeded to convert the penalty, despite a strong hand by Boaz Myhill.

The last 20 minutes were uneventful, with Hull throwing on Daniel Cousin in the hope of grabbing a winner. The only real shot of note was when Geovanni curled one close, but it flew over the bar.

Both sides will settle for the point, although both would have seen it as a winnable game before a ball was kicked.

Stoke: Sorensen, Griffin, Abdoulaye Faye, Cort, Higginbotham, Soares (Tonge 62), Amdy Faye, Diao, Delap, Sidibe, Fuller.
Subs Not Used: Simonsen, Olofinjana, Whelan, Cresswell, Dickinson, Sonko.

Booked: Griffin, Diao.

Goals: Fuller 73 (pen).

Hull: Myhill, McShane, Turner, Zayatte, Ricketts, Marney, Boateng (Cousin 78), Ashbee, Barmby (Halmosi 69), Geovanni (Garcia 90), King.
Subs Not Used: Duke, Windass, Mendy, Giannakopoulos.

Booked: Windass, Myhill, Zayatte.

Goals: King 45.

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More to follow……

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